Collets are used in die bonders for picking and placing electronic devices, such as Integrated Circuits (IC) and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), during semiconductor packaging and assembly. Collets often have to be replaced due to wear and tear, and the rate of replacing the collets depends on the extent of use of the collets and the material they are made of. In some cases, a collet may have to be replaced many times in a day. As a result, substantial time may be wasted replacing the collets, during which the die bonder is unproductive. Therefore, it would be desirable to devise a convenient and swift method for detaching and mounting collets to the collet holder.
Typically, a collet in a die bonder may be fixed to a collet holder of a bondhead using a screw or set screw. There are disadvantages in such a system. Firstly, in production environments, tools such as an Allen key that is required for tightening the screws tend to be misplaced easily and valuable time would be wasted looking for the tools. In addition, as maintaining a clean and neat production environment is very important, there is a preference for a collet assembly system that does not require the use of any tool. Secondly, the torque that is required for tightening and loosening the screws may lead to stress in the bondhead. This undue stress is particularly undesirable for a bondhead using flexure-based mechanisms at the mounting area, which are prone to buckling and breaking under excessive tightening torques and forces.
Therefore, those skilled in the art are constantly striving to provide an improved collet mounting assembly to address these identified problems.